Who Should I Start? Cade Stover or AJ Barner

Monday, September 8, 2:53 PM

Houston Texans second-year tight end Cade Stover (foot) broke his foot in Sunday's game against the Rams and will be out indefinitely. On a day where the Texans' passing attack found limited success, Stover led the team with four catches, which he turned into 22 yards. After a quiet rookie season, it's unlikely Stover was rostered in many leagues, and that will unfortunately remain the case after one of the best games of his young career. With Christian Kirk (hamstring) still sidelined, the Texans are in desperate need of secondary options in the passing game to take some of the defensive attention away from Nico Collins. The best bet will be second-round rookie receiver Jayden Higgins, who will look to top his two-catch debut; however, behind a struggling offensive line, the Texans' offense as a whole could continue to look sluggish, making Collins the only reliable weekly starter.

Friday, September 12, 3:21 PM

Seattle Seahawks tight end AJ Barner had a quiet game in Week 1 against the San Francisco 49ers. He will look to bounce back in Week 2 when Seattle visits the Pittsburgh Steelers. Barner caught one of two targets for zero yards in the season opener. That stat line is completely unusable in fantasy, but his 85% snap share was telling. The Seahawks clearly view Barner as their current No. 1 tight end, and no one behind him did anything to threaten that position in the short term. In Barner's defense, only seven of Sam Darnold's 16 completions went to anyone not named Jaxon Smith-Njigba. There was not much to go around in a passing game that was clearly still working through the kinks. Offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak is good at featuring his tight ends. It is only a matter of time before one of the tight ends on this team emerges. With Barner's considerable playing time, he could start to find himself in fantasy relevance. For now, take a wait-and-see approach with Barner remaining on the waiver wire.